1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bookmarks, and more particularly, a bookmark and pocket insert assembly that can be used as a source of advertisement for a book, magazine, catalog or like publication in which a plurality of pages are secured at the spine edges of the pages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is not uncommon for a person reading a book to mark a place for reference or to return to in the future to continue reading that publication. This is typically done by locating a bookmark or like object such as a piece of paper and inserting it between the desired pages of the book. The difficulty in this method is that the piece of paper or bookmark is often not available to the reader or in the vicinity of the book when needed. If a bookmark or like object is not found, another common technique is to fold over a corner of one of the pages to act as a mark. This approach is ineffective in that the turned over corners become inconspicuous after the book is closed and therefore difficult to find.
In addition to not having a universally accepted form of marking pages, books are generally not accepted as a medium used for advertising. The majority of current day advertising is conducted on mediums such as magazines, newspapers, radio, television, etc. These mediums allow for only a short period of time in which the consumer is exposed to the ad. Therefore, the advertisers spend a great deal of effort and money attempting to get their message across to the consumer. Conversely, a typical book has several hours of exposure that can aid in anchoring in the message of the advertiser.
The most common method for advertising in magazines is to bind the advertisement as a permanent leaf or like page in the publication. Books have traditionally been exempt from this form of advertising. This is due largely in fact that page-by-page advertising would be distracting to the reader and would significantly decrease the value of the book. In fact, any advertisement that is permanently associated to the book has the ability to devalue the book. Unlike magazines, publishers of books generate the majority of their revenue from the sale value of the published item. Therefore, the placement of an ad that devalues the book in any way would be restricted, as it would result in a loss of revenues. It would consequently be of considerable value to have a bookmark that is simple to manufacture for advertising and is conveniently secured so that it can be reattached to the book as well as removed if deemed undesirable by the reader.
One such method would be the use of a pocket to store the bookmark. There have been many books provided with prior art in the form of pockets structurally incorporated in the book for receiving supplements to the book. These supplements are often planar articles that the user of the book will periodically remove for reference. For example, the pocket may be used to store a map, a reference chart, or the like that relates to the subject matter of the book and that for convenience must be separable from the book. U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,490 describes a pocket assembly for retaining numerous or large supplements. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,638,953 and 5,694,743 describe applications that provide pocket or attachment capability for a compact disk and or computer disk.
There have also been many forms of prior art that permanently attach to the book. They are often in the form of ribbons, twine, paper or the like that is adhered to the book and can be extended or moved to be placed between pages. An example of this would be U.S. Pat. No. 2,633,372, which describes a bookmark that retracts from the inner face of the back of a book. The bookmark is attached to the book with an anchor strip and cannot be removed from the book without damaging the anchor strip. U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,102 describes a shape-retaining bookmark that can be received in a pocket. However, this bookmark is adhered in the pocket and not meant to detach from the book once installed.
There are also several forms of prior art that attach through means of clipping to either the spine, leaves, or cover of the book. In this regard, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,808,931, 2,591,094, 4,574,727 and 4,838,198. These examples of prior art are expensive to manufacture and none indicate or have provisions for an advertisement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,606 does incorporate a bookmark that is bound as a leaf in a book or more specifically a trade journal or magazine. This example of prior art is an improvement over the above listed in that it does provide a method for advertising. The bookmark is perforated from the page so that it can be detached from the book and used accordingly. However, once the mark is torn from the book, there is no place for the mark to be secured to the book while the user is reading or when stowed after completion of the book. The mark is therefore apt to be misplaced or lost. Since the bookmark is no longer an integral part of the book once it is detached, it does not add value to the book and the purchaser of the book is not likely to pay more for it than a book without one. Since no additional revenue is received from the sale of the book with this item, the majority, if not all, of the profit generated from the advertisement itself is likely to be consumed from the manufacture and installation of the bookmark.
With the foregoing deficiencies in mind, it is an object of this invention to provide a bookmark and pocket assembly that is convenient and available to the reader whenever the book is opened. With the bookmark of the present invention, there is no need for the reader to search for a bookmark or like object. With use of the pocket, the bookmark is assured to be with the book when the reader needs it. The bookmark of the present invention also eliminates the need to turn over the comer of pages if a bookmark or like object is not found.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bookmark and pocket assembly that, in addition to functioning as a bookmark, serves as a new and efficient method for advertising. The bookmark has ample surface area to serve as a simple and effective medium to display an advertiser's message, which the consumer will be exposed to the every time they pick up or mark a page in the book.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a bookmark and pocket assembly that is inexpensive to manufacture and simple to install into the book in an automated fashion. A significant aspect of the present invention is that it combines different operation or process components in a manner in which automated machinery or systems can be readily adapted and used to produce and install the present invention. Further, the present invention enables each of the various component processes to be accomplished in an independent manner, allowing for a shorter production time.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a bookmark and pocket assembly where the bookmark is a separate retractable entity that can be removed or returned to a secured location in the book. While reading the book, the user can return the bookmark to the pocket where it is inconspicuous and out of the way. Therefore, the bookmark doesn't distract the reader from the material as they are moving along the book. Because of its inconspicuous placement, the advertisement will not deface or devalue the book. If the reader still deems the bookmark undesirable, they can simply discard it and replace it with another of similar size and shape. In fact, this form of advertisement adds value to the book in that it gives the reader a convenient bookmark and pocket that eliminates the need to place the mark before or aft of the present page or beside the book where it can be misplaced. The pocket also provides a way to store the bookmark in the book for shelving after the user has completed reading the book. This added value can be used to adjust up the price of the book, relieving the need for advertising to fund the cost of implementing the present invention.